By Faith...

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Hebrews 11 By Faith...

I was wanting to look at some of the attitudes that we as believers are encouraged to adopt towards God. Faith seemed a good place to start.  I plan to also look at Hope, Love, Holiness, Awesome Respect, Trust, Repentance, Humility, Self-Denial, Submission, Thankfulness, Praise, Prayerfulness, Reverence, and Watchfulness. Not sure what order yet but these topics should take us easily through the rest of this month.

Hebrews 11

11 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Right off the bat we have to understand that the universe was formed by God's command. There are all kinds of theories out there. It requires faith to believe that by God's command the universe was formed and not just some random accident.  
Sometimes God gives us personal promises and they are as crazy as young Josephs dreams and seemingly as impossible as 80 year olds Abraham and Sarah having a promised kid in their senior years.  Geesh you talk about hope deferred, I'm betting Sarah had a lot to say on that subject. I think it is not so much knowing how or when God will deliver on such promises but more of believing that He is able and you are not crazy to believe in spite of what everyone else says or though the circumstances would appear as impossible.   Say it with me God is able. Then I think of Larry the Cucumber saying something to the effect of "Oh Great Bob, does that mean God can make me a cow?" He did part seas and rivers and do a lot of seemly crazy stuff.  I expect I've made my point. 
It seems if God says he's going to do something in your life - hang on cause its usually not in the next snap of the fingers - its a journey and a process.

⁴ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. 

Both brought offerings. Able brought the best of what he had to give to God and Cain brought what he was willing to part with. Our attitude of faith as we bring not only our offerings but our lives before God should be to bring him our best. Not our left overs.


⁵ By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  

Faith is a pretty big deal, to the point of without faith we can't please God. These are all great stories if you don't know them go back to Genesis and check them out - a lot of them can be found there. Can you imagine walking so closely with God that one day you just walked into heaven with out dying. 


⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
 Then there's Noah most folks know that story. I think it tries our scientific age minds to figure out how world wide flood could be possible. Interestingly just about every culture has some sort of ancient flood story. Do you know I've read accounts that in every culture there are flood stories that have incredible similarities. 


⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  Let me point out that Abraham had great faith but he did some really stupid stuff. Lying that his wife was his sister to an area big shot king. Then the whole deal with his wife's maid - yeah that one got messy. We can be really strong in one area and lacking in another. We are all broken but even in our brokenness we can have faith. Its good to keep in mind that God is still working on all of us. So put down your stones.


¹¹ By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.  I already mentioned this one. Back in that day it was a terribly shameful thing to not be able to produce an heir for your husband.  The story of Hannah is another woman who cried out to God for a son, even promising to give him to God to serve in the temple once he was weened. I was married 15 year before God gave me my son Niah. I had pretty much given up on having children. I was at a church service and I felt like God spoke to me that I was pregnant. I told Him I can't do this - If I am you tell me the child's name and what it means. If it turns out to be correct - I'll take a pregnancy test. The next thing I heard was  - His name is Hananiah and it means Gods gracious gift.  I had to go searching to even find who Hananiah was in the bible. Turns out it was Shadrack from the firey furnace story. Shadrack was the name given to Hananiah in captivity. When I looked up the meaning of the name it was God gracious gift. At that point I was willing to believe I had heard God and took a pregnancy test. Niah, short for Hananiah is now almost 15 he has been a gift from God.


¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. There are some great stories of faith and courage if you take the time to read your bible. Are you looking for a better heavenly country. I think of the Narnia books when I think about heaven and how in The Final Battle when they think everything has been lost but they have stood firm to the end. They find themselves on the other side of a barn door and in a new and better country. "“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now...Come further up, come further in!”
― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle  I never feel like I really fit in here. I always feel kind of like the odd, different one. I've grown to accept it as part of that inner longing for my home in heaven. 

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.  Isaac's faith is never mentioned here but you got an old man and a strapping young teen age boy. If he had not trusted his dad and God he would not have had to submit to that sacrifice situation.  Can you imagine dad standing over you with a knife " It will be ok Son, God has a plan." Geesh I sure hope so.

²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. These blessing stories are all intriguing. The hands of blessing are switched in the last moments and the younger gets the blessing. I first will be last kind of illustration for us. 
I'm telling you there are treasures to be found in the pages of your bible. If all you do is live on refrigerators verses that people post on Facebook - you are missing out. Read, learn, study ask the Holy Spirit to lead you - he says he will. Take him up on that promise - exercise a little faith that even if you feel dumb as a stump biblically that God is willing and able to lead you and help you to understand his word.  


²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.  Some say that Israel did not leave Egypt for another 215 years, others say it was 400, and others still 430 years. In any case it was a long time for dead Josephs bones to be remembered.


²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.²⁵ He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.  So then you get the whole Moses story and journey - read it for yourself don't rely on some old Charlton Heston movie or any other for that matter. If the last time you read that story was as a child in Sunday school its time to re-visit it - Not to ruin the story for you but O'l "Let my people Go", Moses does not even get to go into the promised land - He gets to only see it from a distance. Go read the story and see if you can figure out why?

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. Then you get the Joshua stories and if you like military battles and strategy Joshua will stretch you a bit. I have to say that I have read many of these stories many times and God will show me some new thing that I had not seen previously.  With out faith it doesn't make a lot of sense - you need the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you.

³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.³⁷ They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. ³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.
Most of the stories in this list are found in other places in the bible beyond Genesis. I'm going to have to look up the one about Jephthah - oh yeah that weird story in Judges about the guy who lead Israel in battle and mad a rash vow to kill what ever walked out of the door of his house to greet him. I think he was expecting the dog but it was his daughter. There are some stories like this one that I don't really understand. I just kind of let them stew and maybe the next time I read it I will have a bit more incite. Sometimes if you are new to the bible you will have a lot that you don't understand. The more of the bible that you read the more the pieces of the puzzle and the larger story start to fit together.


My Blog Birthday Month gift for you today are some links to some great bible study tools. 
I probably use Bible Gateway almost every day. http://www.biblegateway.com/
This one also has some nice features. http://www.biblestudytools.com/
I'll tell you a little secret  - when I can't find a verse I type as much as I can remember into the google search and see if what comes up helps me find the verse. A lot of the time I get the verse I'm looking for. 



Prayer:Dear Lord,
Thank you for leading us in your Word today. I'm sure there is more treasure to be mined from it. We have just scratched the surface. Thank you for the things you helped us see today. Thank you for leading us. I pray that you would put a hunger for your Word into the readers of this blog. Help us move beyond milk and learn to pick up our forks and knives and rightly divide the meat.

 

The Anchor of My Soul

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Hebrews 6:19 -20  

^"This hope we have 

as an anchor of the soul, 

both sure and steadfast, 

and which enters 

the Presence behind the veil,

²⁰ where the forerunner 

has entered for us,  

even Jesus, having become 

High Priest forever 

according to the order 

of Melchizedek."

There are mornings when I struggle to find my voice. I feel like a boat a drift and and my mind wanders trying to find the rope that is attached to the anchor of my soul. This morning I was reading from Galatians the Lord seems to lead me there often to remind me that the focus of my life is not based upon doing good things or bad things but simply in believing in Jesus. It is His righteousness not my own that allows me to enter the presence of the Father.  Then I spent some time reading a chapter from The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge. I am reminded by him how lesser stories and lesser lovers all vie for my time and attention. He talks of how when we are not busy doing that we struggle to rest. " I have made my home in you, ____. But you still have other comforters you go to. You must learn to make your home in me."   He goes on to write " It also dawned on me that holiness, surprisingly, also comes not out of doing but out of staying at home, with who and where we are and with who and where God is in us. Indeed, we will only have the courage to leave home and continue to live as pilgrims out on the road if we have some sense that our true home abides within us in the Spirit of Christ and that we can do the same with him. And in the meantime, out of this abiding, Jesus transforms us. Our identity begins to coalesce, not out of doing, but out of living with a good friend for a number of years and simply finding we have become more like him. " (page 166-7)

I am glad God gives me these things to remind me that while I may feel like I am drifting, there is an anchor tied to Him. So in the midst of my morning I have found my voice. The enemy of my soul would like to tell me I have nothing of value to write or say and perhaps he says similar things to you. I suppose on one level it is true because apart from Jesus there is really not much to tell.  Yet of Jesus, I will not be silent. His relationship with me and with you is one of epoch proportions. It is a grand story of a King who would leave his home and journey to find those who had lost their way and were trapped, and chained and tortured by evil masters. Yet He comes and He reaches out to us and says "will you believe, will you take my hand and walk with me. Will you let me transform you, and give your life purpose and meaning and be defined by who you are in me?"  That is a story that I love to tell.  

So I have grouped around in the early morning darkness and found the rope or the chain that is attached to the anchor that reaches beyond this earth to my home in Jesus. It is there that I find rest, it is there that doing stops and simply being and abiding begins.  

Prayer:
Dear Lord, 
Help us to know that the anchor of our soul is secure in you. That when the voices and the clamor of this life try to tell us that we are lost, out of control, drifting or valueless. That we will know that even when you were asleep in the boat with the disciples and the wind and the waves threatened and caused them to become fearful. You were in the boat and you spoke and calmed the storm.  So Lord in your name, and by your authority I speak to those storms and tell them to be still. I speak to myself and I say Be still, know that God is with you, that he is for you, that he will not abandon you. That he loves you and delights to be with you. I pray that His epoch story of love would rise up in you and that the mental and emotional fog would lift and you would be able to feel the sunshine of His love and presence as you walk through this day.   

Hinderances

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

How big is your giant hinderance?

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by 

such a great cloud of witnesses, 

let us throw off everything that  hinders 

and the sin that so easily entangles, 

and let us run with perseverance 

the race marked out for us.

There are some things that hinder us from making progress spiritually.
Here are a few bible examples for you to consider.

First there is Lots wife. The place where they live has become so wicked that God has decided its time to wipe them off the map. Abraham pleads with God that if he can find 10 righteous to spare it and with hold the judgement due. God finds only four. Lot and his wife and two daughters. From my reading they are not exactly spiritual giants there story is a bit dicy in places and Lot seems to me to be a pretty carnal minded guy. At one point the whole land is before him and he must choose which way he will go because he and Abraham must part ways. He chooses the most lush and easy lands and heads off to the good life.  I suppose the easy and hard path is another post. For today in this story, Lot and his family are rushed out of town by some angels and told don't look back. Lot's wife is lured by the old life and looks back and does not escape and becomes a pillar of salt. Worldly captivation prevents her escape.  (Ge 19::26) Is there some part of the old life that still tempts and lures you away from the things of God?


Another hinderance is that of David in 1 Samuel 17:39  David is about to face the giant and he goes to the king with his crazy faith. Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”
 ³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Ok so he is only briefly hindered here - but there is a lesson to be learned. We are hindered when we attempt to use the things that God has given to another to equip them rather than use what he has given us. Was it the stone that killed the giant or David's faith that God was able? Is God bigger than the giant you are facing?


People who are discouraged can oppose us as they did in the building of the wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah 4. ¹⁰ Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” ¹¹ Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
 ¹² Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.” ¹³ Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. ¹⁴ After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” When we are discouraged we don't get much done. Nehemiah takes some precautions by posting people in key places and giving them the tools they needed to stand their ground. He speaks to them and reminds them to remember the Lord. If you are fighting discouragement today remember the things God has done before and pray and ask Him to cause courage and faith to rise up in you. Put on the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

In Matthew 13 even Jesus was hindered by the unbelief of the towns folks in his home town of Nazareth. They just could not get past seeing him as Joseph and Marys son.  Some times we have to go beyond the familiar to find people who can see the calling of God on our life. I know when we used to travel and do concerts we were no big deal in our home town but go about 50 miles away and you suddenly became a big deal. Great people of faith that had come to bring the message of God. 

In the story of the rich young ruler it is his possessions that keep him from following Jesus. In our day and age it might be that fancy tv or your computer or all the stuff you've bought on credit and now have to work extra hours to pay off leaving you little or no time for God and kingdom work.

Sometimes our worry and the problems we imagine hinder us. In Mark 16:3-4 Mary and the girls want to go and put spices and anoint the body of Jesus and they worry along the way about how they will move the big stone at the entrance.  Sometimes God has already take care of the problem and we have spent energy worrying that was unnecessary.

Well that should be enough for you to chomp on today. Our verse reminds us to throw those weights and hinderances and the sin that so easily entangles off. Are there thing that are hinderances that you need to deal with? Ask God to help you see them and to help you find the courage to deal with those things. So you can move on in your walk and growth in Him.

Prayer
Dear Lord,
Help us to see the things that stand between us and more fully following you in your plans and purposes. Help us to examine our lives and deal with the sins that easily entangle us. Help us not go back to the old dead ways and habits but continue to walk in greater freedom in you.

Angel Stories

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Waiting Angel by Margot Cioccio

Hebrews 13:2 
Do not forget to entertain strangers, 
for by so doing some people 
have entertained angels without knowing it.

This morning I got a call from my sister in law checking to make sure we had gotten the card they had sent. I guess they had had some things come back un delivered by their post office. In the course of the conversation she felt compelled to tell me a story. I will do my best to relate it to you.
She and her family had left on a trip from Kansas City to St. Louis. Her husband, my younger brother decided not to eat before leaving and was hungry and wanted to stop before they had even crossed the state line. So they pulled off the highway to a fast food place. On the ramp they saw two men  holding up signs. The one that my brother saw was a man who had run out of gas. He never saw the other guy. My sister in law said he was holding a sign that said "Help Him". There were no trees or bushes along this exit and they pulled over to help the man that my brother saw.  As my brother went to talk to him and see what he could do to help the family sat in the car and waited. As they waited they looked to see where the other man was so they could help him as well. He was no where to be seen. When my brother got back to the car the family asked if he saw where the other man had gone. He had never seen that man. They pulled in to the fast food place and went in to get a meal and as they were sitting there they over heard some others talking about how they had stopped to help this man. One the husband had gone to pump gas in the car, the other had given him some money. My sister in law who is a very out going person. Asked if they had seen the other man. Things suddenly got very quiet and both of the others who were led to help the man said yes they had seen him but then he was gone. As if he had vanished into thin air. One of the ladies was pretty convinced that he was an angel.  The man they all did help had received word from his family that his mother was dying and was trying to get to Colorado to see her one last time. He had family who would help him once he got there. He was very poor and drove a beat up truck and was hoping that it would make the trip. My sister in law comment on the other man. She said his clothes were very plain but he had a pleasant face.

Cool story - they were not out looking for angels - I'm not sure why she felt compelled to tell me that story today. She has some very prophetically bent giftings. So when she tells me a odd story out of the blue that had nothing to do with anything we had talked about. I pay attention because some times God speaks to us thorough other people.  Before her call I had just sat down at my computer and opened the blogger page to write today's devotional. I had no idea what I would write about and before I had a chance to come up with something the phone rang. So I am taking it as God's direction to me for this particular post. 

Ministering Angel by Margot Cioccio

I have done a couple of angel projects that I will include photos of in this post. The Waiting Angel. I was wanting to create something that was more in line with the references to angels that I saw with in the pages of my Bible. So much of the angel art that is out there is very beautiful female looking, wispy, fairy like angels.  So the waiting angel I wanted to portray a warrior, who stands at attention waiting to be sent by God to aid the heirs of salvation. 

Another angel project that I did shows again a strong more masculine angel reaching to take a bottle away from a man who struggles with addiction. I have some friends that run some recovery homes and take in men and women who want to overcome their drug and alcohol addictions. They had been raising funds for the work they do and I did not have the finances to give but I was inspired to do this project. I gave it to them telling them they could sell it if it would help their ministry. Instead they decided to hang it in one of the houses.

So I want to point out to you some of the passages and stories that have helped to build my view of what an angelic being might look like. Other than the brief inspiration like visions for these two pieces I can't say that I have seen any angels at least none that I was aware of.

We see an angel in Genesis 17 who finds Hagar who is the mother of Ishmael in the desert. The angel tells her to go back and submit to her mistress Sarah and that she would have a child and call that child Ishmael. The Lord has heard of your misery. No description is given of the angel in that passage. It comes to deliver a message to a very desperate woman alone in the desert.

 Then there are the two angels that are sent to get Lot and his family out of Sodom because God intends to destroy that place. This story is in Genesis 19. They are addressed by Lot in the town square as "My lords" It would seem in this case the come looking as men. Lot persuades them to come to his home and not stay in the town square. While at his house the men of the city come and bang on the door asking "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out so that we can have sex with them." The story from that point kind of stretches me because Lot is willing to send out his two virgin daughters. The men have come under the protection of his house but not his own daughters. I don't always know what to do with the story of Lot. He strikes me as a very carnal person although he believe and trusts God. Yet he is one of the few righteous people found in the city of Sodom at that time.  Anyway my point being that the angels in this passage are decidedly masculine in appearance.

Next up in Genesis 21 Hagar again now with her child Ishmael is again running away and is in the desert in despair with a crying child. No description is give of the angel but it comes with an message of hope, encouragement and direction.
 ¹⁷ God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. ¹⁸ Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
 ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

Next you find the story in Genesis 22 where Abraham is tested and is to sacrifice his son Issac to the Lord. He makes the journey and along the way the son asks where is the sacrifice for the offering. Abraham assures him that the Lord will provide.  He has his son on the altar that they have built and he is ready to sacrifice him to God when he is stopped by an angel. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
   “Here I am,” he replied.
 ¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
In some of these the angel of the Lord is seems more to be the Lord himself rather than a messenger sent from God. There are many such references to the Angel of the Lord in the old testament and this post will become way too long if I outline them all for you. I suggest you drop the words "Angel of the Lord" into the Bible Gateway search and scroll through them all. There are tons of examples.   This form of Angelic being is called at theosophany. " Is a visual manifestation of God before the incarnation. Some theologians limit the definition to a bodily form, and others include any visible manifestation such as the burning bush".  In some things I have read it is thought that it can not be God the Father because one cannot see his face and live. The Holy Spirit is described to be like the wind that blows through the trees. You can see the effects of the Holy Spirit but not the Holy Spirit.  That would leave the third person of the trinity, Jesus to appear as the Angel of the Lord.

My mother handed me a book the other day about a young boy in Ohio who was in an terrible car accident who's spine was severed internally. It is called The boy who came back from heaven  by Kevin and Alex Malarkey. I have only read not quite half of it this evening. There was one passage so far that seems to go with this post.  This is the child Alex giving his account of the accident. " For just one second before all of the action began, there was a moment of calmness. I remember thinking someone was going to die. When the calm ended, I heard the sound of glass breaking, and I saw Daddy's feet going out of the car. Now I thought I knew who was going to die. But then I saw something unbelievably cool. Five angels were carrying Daddy outside the car. Four were carrying his body, and one was supporting his neck and head. The angels were big and muscular, like wrestlers, and they had wings on their backs from their waists to their shoulders. I thought Daddy was dead, but that it was okay because the angels were going to make him okay."

 I don't think I can even begin to scratch the tip of the iceburg on this subject. I am how ever reminded of Hebrews 1:14  Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
I am reminded that like the guy by the side of the road and like the father of the child in the book and like so many people in stories through out the Bible that angels are sent by God. Even Jesus talks about them. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels ? (Mat 26:53)

In general where there are descriptions of angels in the bible they are generally described as men. There is one verse in Zechariah 5:9  Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. I suppose as spirit beings they may appear as either male or female. Daniel sees an angel that seems to be made of polished metal, precious stones and a face like lightening. I'm not sure where the idea of fat baby angels came from but in 30 years I have not found them anywhere in my bible. It seems they have come to us from Roman or Victorian art. You get some descriptions of Cherubim in Revelation 4 :7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
They don't sound like chubby babys to me. In my recall, most of the time the first thing angels have to say is some something to the effect of fear not. I think they might be a bit intimidating.

Our verse today is about showing hospitality to strangers. In doing so it says some have entertained angels with out knowing that they had even encountered an angel. I think a lot of angel ideas come to us from artistic ideas and have little or no likeness to the powerful angelic beings found in scripture.
Its kind of like the many Christmas ideas that we have come to accept as fact because someone in a song said there were 3 kings that followed a star and brought gifts to Jesus. They were more accurately scholars, and there were likely many more than three, probably a whole caravan. The idea of three comes from there being 3 gifts given. We also have pristine images of a shiny clean child birth in a barn. Sorry child birth is messy even with todays technology. Well... and do you really think baby Jesus never cried? We get many of our Christmas idea not from the bible but from songs, stories and art that have become part of popular culture and that have been perpetuated over time.

Well - there is more that could be said but I am writing a devotional post not a doctrinal paper on angels. I guess my challenge to you is that you read the Christmas stories and other account of angels in the Bible for yourself.  Let me know if you find any fat baby angels. Who knows in extending hospitality to strangers you might get to meet an angel or maybe you already have and have a cool story to add to the comments. I guess all in all while I find angels amazing and I am glad for there work behind the scenes, my focus is on knowing Jesus. I would join with the angels to worship Him. Glory to God in the Highest are the songs of the angels to the shepherds at the birth of Christ.  Holy Holy Holy cry the angels around the throne of God. I would join them in worshiping the one who deserves all honor and glory and praise.

Prayer: 
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the angels that you send to minister to us. We are often unaware of your care and protection and work of angels sent to minister to us as the heirs of salvation. Lord help us to have hearts that would reach out with care and hospitality to the stranger, the lonely, the broken perhaps there is an angel under the poor mans rags holding up that sign on the corner. Angel or not whatever
we do for the least we have done it unto you. I pray you would be blessed by our hospitality and our care for those in need. Help us see past our own little traumas and to even in our own needs and brokenness to reach out to others with your love. I pray as we minister to others you would minister to us and bring the healing and solutions for our own concerns.




 

Drawing Near

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Hebrews 4: 16  

Let us then 

with confidence 

draw near 

to the throne of grace,

that we may 

receive mercy 

and find grace

to help 

in time of need.

I decided to just go to bed last night because I could not come up with something to write about. I know that I struggle more to stay positive when I am tired. I was not doing very well at finding much that was positive or inspirational to say so I went to bed.  I'm not sure I've nailed it this morning although I don't feel nearly as discouraged as I did last night. I did go back and edit it way down because I was concerened that the lack of inspriation may have lead to long winded rambling. I hope something in it will be a nugget of hope for you on your journey today. At this point its after noon and it will just have to be good enough.

So God's mercies are new every morning and I am going to trust Him to be with me in this day. 

I need the Lord to help me move beyond my perceived lacks into a place of hope and possibility. I know better than most that one never knows what is around the next corner.  So I will wait with hope and anticpation.

My mom and aunt were here this past weekend and it was good to be able to help them work through the issues they were having with some of their new technology.  My mom had called earlier in the week and was having trouble with the set up of the gift she had gotten for my aunt. I told her, at that time put it back into the box and leave it alone till I can help you with it. Of course she could not wait and had to try to set it up on her own. Which meant by the time my youngest son Cai and I got to it, it was a big mess and she could not remember what she had done or how she had done it. We finally got it back to factory presets and started over to set it up correctly.  Now my sister and brother and I are getting my mother a similar gift for Christmas. My job on the gift is to make sure it gets set up and she learns to use it. My sister who knows my mom won't leave it alone and won't know what she's doing, decided the way to solve that problem is to have the gift sent to me. That will give my tech savy children and I  have a chance to get it set up and learn to use it so we can take it to her Christmas day.  I'm sure there must be a point in this somewhere... ok so... here it is... God can give us a nice new gift but we don't have a clue how to set it up and use it. We can be so excited by the possibility of this new thing and all that it will do that we rush in and try on our own to get it set up only to find out we don't possess the skills needed and find our selves stuck. I believe the help we need is probably very near, but we have to admit that we just don't understand this new gift and need help. Oh and a little patience might come in handy too.

This past Sunday I worked in the kitchen for our homeless feeding. We had some things that for what ever the reason did not go to plan. I am really good at finding a work around ways to do things. So the big problem we had was all the burners were taken up trying to boil potatoes and we still needed to cook corn and gravy. Generally the potatoes cook and you move them out of the way and have time for the the other items. The potatoes just would not cook. We were able to get gravy on the stove top but the corn was clearly not going to be able to be done according to that plan. That was an easy fix - we could cook it in the ovens but the ovens were all full keeping the Salisbury steak patties warm. So that required that we layer those patties to make room for the corn. I was a little discouraged at the end of the day because the potatoes cooked and cooked but never got soft enough to mash. So in the end the plan for having mashed potatoes had to be scrapped. Its still a mystery to me why they did not work. We've made mashed potatoes many times for meals and had no trouble. In reading on line to see if others have had potatoes that won't soften I found that that it is possible to get old potatoes that just won't cook.   I am good with the whole "when life gives you lemons - make lemon aid" kind of mentality.  Sometimes I get stuck - like with those potatoes and just can't find a work around.  Sometimes the thing we are trying to do is simply not going to work. Thats when I need people like Tonia the lead in the kitchen to say enough, stop. Its time to just throw out those old potatoes. I need people in my life who will help me to pronounce something dead and help me to move on

 

Ugggh agian I must be heading for a point in all of this I've gone from stories of new technology to potatoes in one post. I think there are times in our life when we need to realize that we need help particularly with something new. There are other times when we simply need to stop and conceed that something is not going to produce the results needed in the time that is allowed. In those things I have to look to the lead or the authority in that situation to call the "stop". I have to look to God in my own life to call the "stop" cause other wise I keep looking for the work around its just how he wired me.

Our verse today talks about aproaching the throne of grace with confidence. 

I have to go to the Lord with those places where I feel stuck. I need the Lord's help us to tell the difference between something that needs to be renewed and revived and something that needs to be buried because its dead.  I think sometimes it is part of having a high level of faith that it is very hard for me to give up. Dead is not dead because I believe in a God of resurrection power. I think however there are times that God says its time to let this thing go, let me take this from you and give you something that will work better for my plans and purposes for you. Let me send it to you with the help you will need to set it up and get it working in ways that will thrill and astound you. 

I remember now why I started to tell you the story of my mom being here this weekend. She was sitting on my couch and was reading me a little story that she has found on the new tech device,

about two frogs that fall in a bucket of cream.

   

"One day, two frogs were enjoying the day in the barn when they accidently fell into the farmer's bucket of cream, and they couldn't get out. The two frogs kept swimming around to keep from drowning, and every once in a while they would try to climb out, but this was becoming very tiring.

One frog kept saying, "This is useless, we should just give up." But the other frog just ignored the comment and kept swimming. Finally, the pessimistic frog gave up and drowned. The other frog was sad at the loss of his friend, but he wasn't going to give up. He kept swimming and swimming, and, finally, the cream turned into butter and the frog simply climbed out.

This story shows that even if we stumble and others try to pull us down, we got to keep on swimming because, eventually, the cream will turn into butter and we'll make it out of the pail."

--- Author Unknown

 

So my tendency is towards being like that frog who keeps swimming. I don't see an answer so I just keep doing what I can do till a solution presents it self. In the case of the frog it was to swim. To believe that the answer is in not giving up. That faith and hope are valuable and to believe that God is honored by my faith and stubborn tenasity.

Theres another inspriational story that I love.

Pushing Against The Rock ~ Author Unknown

There once was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Saviour appeared to him.

The Lord told him He had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock explaining that he was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, and for many days he toiled from sunup to sundown; his shoulder set squarely against the cold massive surface of the rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man showed signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture - placing thoughts in the man's mind, such as ``Why kill yourself over this?, you're never going to move it!'' or ``Boy, you've been at it a long time and you haven't even scratched the surface!'' etc. giving the man the impression the task was impossible and the man was an unworthy servant because he wasn't moving the massive stone.

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man and he started to ease up in his efforts. ``Why kill myself?'' he thought. ``I'll just put in my time putting forth just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough.'' And this he did or at least planned on doing until, one day, he decided to take his troubles to the Lord.

``Lord,'' he said, ``I have labored hard and long in Your service, putting forth all my strength to do that which You have asked of me. Yet after all this time, I have not even budged that rock even half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?''

To this the Lord responded compassionately, ``My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you to push against the rock with all your strength and that you have done. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. At least not by yourself. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed, ready to quit. But is this really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled; your back sinewed and brown. Your hands are calloused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have. Yet still, you haven't succeeded in moving the rock; and you come to Me now with a heavy heart and your strength spent. I, my friend will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and push, and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom, and this you have done.''

I guess my point in all my little stories today is that I don't always have a clue about what God is doing. Sometimes I just need to obey and keep doing what he's told me to do even when I feel like the guy with the rock that I am failing. God is building strength in me.
Sometimes like the frog I need to keep going and not give up.
Sometimes like my mom and the technology I need to remember to ask for help.
Sometimes like the potatoes - I just need to stop. That one is really hard for me.

I think what I am saying here in all my stories is that one size solution does not fit every problem and I don't always know which of these antidotes to apply to my situation unless I go to God and believe that he will help me sort out what he is doing at this time. The same is true for you.

Is Gods word to you - get some help with the new gift he's given you.
Is it don't give up - keep swimming like the frog
Is it you think you have failed to move the rock but the plan was always to build your muscle.
Or is God saying to you that those old potatoes are not going to cook - time to toss them out.

I realize I don't always know what God is doing. I look for help,  I can flail around in the cream like the frog, I can push and build spiritual muscle, and I can at times accept that what I'm trying to do just is not going to work. Unless I draw near to the Lord I won't know what He is saying to me now. 

So I go to him and I tell him.  I take those things that to me seem to not be working and I lay them before the Lord.  I can look back and see that there have been times when He has fixed what was broken, there have been times he has taken somethings away and replaced them with something new. There are times when he has inspired me to not give up, and other times when he has said enough, it is finished.  In the end we must each come to Him to really know what is His direction for us is in this moment. 

What is He saying to you?  He wants to speak to you, will you take the time to listen til you hear His voice.  Hebrews 4: 16  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,

that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Prayer: 

Dear Lord, 

Help us know what you are saying now.  Speak clearly to us Lord. You know what we need, so Lord we look to you. Grant us wisdom to know what inspriational stories apply to our particular situation today. Lord there are not always easy anwers to the things we face in life. Sometimes we need to do more than to slap a bandaid on somethings and stand there saying its all better now. Sometimes the boo boos in our life are bigger than what simple bandaids can fix. Lord you are the author and the finisher. You know the end from the beginning and you know all the chapters and the twists and turns the story will take.  So Lord I come to you. I can't always make sense of it all but I believe that you can.

I turn to you  - you know me better than I know myself. You know what I need and when I need it. 

 

 

 

Get off The Bench and Into the Game

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Click to see more of my son Niah's photos

Hebrews 1:1-3
 ¹ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.




I love this quote from John Eldredge's book Beautiful Outlaw. "For the religious spirit is like the flu - it is constantly adapting to the environment. It would be hard to hold a witch trial in our day. So what might it be in our time? Last week a friend heard his pastor say 'You can't know Jesus like you know your friends. He is all together different from us.' Blasphemy. You can know Jesus just as intimately as his first disciples did. Maybe more so. Jesus came to be known, for heaven's sake, came to make God known to us:"  I will highly recommend to you the book the Beautiful Outlaw. John Eldredge has a wonderful gift as a writer and my life has been impacted by some of his other books and many of the great resources at his web site. So here's the link http://www.ransomedheart.com/

It is very easy to become weighed down by religion. Jesus did not come to make you or I religious. He came to set us free from the chains of sin that so easily entangle us. He came to show us a better way, a kingdom way to live. He left and said he would send the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth.
The Holy Spirit wants to not only help you know Jesus and the Father better, He wants to help you navigate through this life. He want to be a living, vital and active part of your life.  We get the mistaken idea that all Jesus wants is for us to attend a weekly church service and to try not to cuss, and drink and fornicate.  If thats how you are trying to function - you are missing the point  - Jesus wants your life every day, ever minute of every day. He wants to walk with you moment by moment. I'm not saying that you should chuck church but perhaps its time to look at it differently. 1 Peter 2:5 spells it out pretty clearly. This is from the Message. "Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you'll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God." Going to church should be a celebration of corporate worship of a group of people who's lives have been, and are being transformed, not just on Sunday but through out the whole week. People who's lives over lap through out the week. It should not be a place where we put on our best face and pretend we are good people. We should be surrounded by people who know us well, who pray fro us when we struggle, and rejoice with us when things are good, people who serve together, and play together. Who don't let us get away with our nonsense and inmaturity. We are not meant to live lives in isolation. We are to be like iron that sharpens iron. As a living stone in a spiritual house - every person has a place, we all bring our gifts and talents to the table and together we accomplish God's purposes for us as a group of people. 

Even as church's we get messed up thinking we need to be just like every other church out there. God who make the giraffe and the zebra might have room for some of his churches to express themselves a little differently from one another.  We need to begin to look at the collective bunch of folks that God has given us and start to ask the question together, "What might we as a people, do to make Jesus more accessable to the lost, broken, the hurting all around us?" How can we live together as Kingdom minded people? How can we encourage each other to live missionally?  How can we build on yesterdays verse from Hebrews 10 and move on to verse 24. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 

Quick write down 3 things you will do this week to encourage the people around you to love and good deeds. How will you recoginze and encourage the gifts of God in others this week? Quick do it now!
1. ____________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________

We are not called to go to church - we are to be the church. Your family is a tiny little church. Matthew 18:20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. How can you encourage those in your inner circle to live for Jesus. It may not be your family, maybe its a group of friends that you pray with and encourage. You may have a number of little "church" units. Church is any little or large group who gathers together in Jesus's name. In those groups He promises to be with us, even if its just two friends. We don't really need more institutions, we need more people who will become open and honest with each other. Who will come together to build one another up. Who will we encouage to be pecular people?  1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  You have to read it in the King James to get the pecular people part. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.   The point is that we are called to be different, we are called to be salt and light! (Matthew 5:13-16)  He has called us out of darkness. He called us to be present and alive in this dead world. He could have just taken us home at the point of conversion. He didn't, He left us here to shine for Him.  All around you are people who are watching to see if you are just another religious hipocrite or if you really believe and follow and live this Jesus you profess. Don't just call yourself a Christian because you attend a Church or listen to Chrisitan raidio. Call yourself a Christian because you have decided to follow Jesus and really do things His way.  If more of us did this world would be a different place. But lets not get side tracked by what others could or should be doing lets look at you. Every revival starts with one person who decides to change. Where is your life reflecting the "real" Jesus? Do you have your Father's eyes? How about his compassion? Or his kindness? Maybe you reflect some of his playfulness. He wants to take you where you are today, with all your flaws, inperfections, failures with all your tallents and abilities and everything that makes you uniquily you. He wants to know and love you, to spend time with you. Reflect to others, what He has revealed of Himself to you. Even new baby belivers can do that. Lets not just give the gosple lip service - lets live it. We are the good news  - we've got Jesus in us. I will end with Hebrews 3:12-19 (If you hear His voice through this post - respond to Him in some way.) Oh and maybe send me a note and let me know these how these devotionals are making a difference in your life. (princessmargot@hotmail.com) I could use a little  encouragement too. Maybe use the donate button - I don't get paid to do this and it does take a bit of time from other things I could do to make money. If this is making a difference for you - please pray for me and consider supporting it. Oh and tell your friends about it too. Thanks:)
 ^"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said:
   “Today, if you hear his voice,
   do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”
 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?  And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief."

Prayer
Dear Lord,
Help us to ferrit out the religious germs that have infested our lives. Help us to become Kingdom people. Jesus people. Help us to look like you, and sound like you and to become more and more like you everyday. Help us to stop playing church and to be the church. Help us to live radical lives that are salty and shine your light to a dark and dying world. It is time to get off the bench and into the game. Help us have the couarage to be fully who you have created us to be and to embrace your plans and purposes for our life.

O The Blood

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

 
Here's the link to the video of the recording O The Blood
that I recorded to go along with this post http://youtu.be/6-0x4P1PGps


Hebrews 10:19-23
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleans us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

I started this morning thinking I would write about verse 24 about inspiring one another on towards love and good deeds but realized that 19-23 were so rich that I did not want you to miss them.
I talk a lot about pressing in to Jesus and I want you to understand it is not a pressing in of a sacrificial religious acts. It is more of pressing in to be secure in what Jesus has done for you. Really we can't even get to the part about inspiring one another towards love and good deeds with out taking care of the chains of guilt and shame and accepting what the blood of Christ has done for us.
In the verses above we start off with confidence in the blood of Christ.
So lets look at some other places to try and understand what the blood of Christ does for us.





Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  His blood is what allows us to draw near or press in to the Father.  The blood of Jesus covers all those places of sin that would other wise separate us from God.  When we accept what Jesus has done for us it allows us to stop trying to be good enough. It completely changes our motivation for doing good things. We do them out of thankfulness and a sense of calling and purpose rather than as a means to some how atone for our own sins. Jesus paid it all. We stand before the father covered by the blood of Jesus. He is the sacrifice who's blood was shed on our behalf.
 
Hebrew 9:14  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! It cleanses our conscience - I know that there are some of you reading who continually carry around a load of regrets. I ask you - Have you gone before God and asked him to forgive you specifically of the things that have led up to you having those regrets. Have you forgiven others who hurt, disappointed, betrayed or let you down who's choices have led up to you having those regrets? Allow the blood of Christ to cleanse your guilty conscience. Why? So you can serve the living God. He's got stuff he has prepared for you to do in his kingdom. While you wallow in your guilt and self pity you are missing those opportunities to walk before him by faith. Keep it up you will end up with even more regrets. Its time to do some house cleaning. Let Jesus into the closets, let him see the stuff you have swept under the rug.
 
1 Peter 1:2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. It makes it possible for you to walk obediently before Christ. By your own strength you will not overcome your addictive tendencies, or the depression or the guilt and things that keep tripping you up. It is the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit that causes us to be strong where we were once weak. Kingdom living is not about you pulling yourself up by your boot straps and trying to beat yourself into being a good person. Jesus makes you good by the power of His blood. He begins a transforming work in your life and asks you to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you day by day, step by step. It is He who works in you the desire to please and honor the Lord with your life. Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
It frees us from our sins. Here you are carrying around that load of guilt and shame and you think if you can some how pay for it or make up for it. There is a scene in the movie The Mission that illustrates in a visual way how we often try to atone for our failure through acts of penance. Here's the clip http://youtu.be/xJ4WviaApHc You are trying to go through life carrying that load of  un-necessary shame and guilt when Jesus has paid for it all on the Cross by the shedding of His blood. Do you some how think his sacrifice was not enough? Its time to cut that rope and that loaded pack and let it fall off your life. Accept what Jesus has done for you and begin to walk in the freedom of His amazing forgiveness. Your right you don't deserve it - none of us do. It is time to cut that thing off and to begin to live for Him a life of thankfulness.

 1 Peter 1:18-20 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. It is time to let go of that empty way of life and embrase life in the Kingdom. If you need some help with that I suggest reading the stories that Jesus told. In them He is trying to help us see what life in the Kingdom is like.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Time to stop just giving lip service and time to begin living like you believe what you say.
Are calling yourself a Christian but continuing to walk around with a load of guilt and shame as if the sacrifice of Christ was some how not good enough for your sins... its time to stop. Accept what He has done for you and begin to walk in the life He has called you to. Time to get off the bench and into the game.  A couple of days ago I recorded the song The Well at the end it says "leave it all behind...your pursuit of of perfection. "Leave it all behind...your fear of rejection. Leave it all behind...your temporary pleasures. Leave it all behind...all your earthly treasures. Leave it all behind... the costly chains of addiction. Leave it all behind... all the guilt that weighs you down."  Really its time to quit punishing yourself  - give it all to Jesus and get on with the life He is calling for you to by accepting what he has done for you.

I've been pondering the following question and so I pass it along to you to ponder as well.
"If all things were possible what would you be doing with your life?" 
 
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Help us to move beyond the baby steps of repentance and forgiveness and to begin to walk in your Kingdom purposes and calling for our lives. Its time to leave it all behind - time to move on. Lord move us from wallowing in the pig sty of sin, regret, failure, shame, and fear. Hose us off and help us to begin to walk by faith into the things you are calling us to do and to be for your glory.

Approaching God’s Throne with Confidence

Click Here to Order This Card

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV1984)
Let us then approach the throne
of grace with confidence, 
so that we may receive mercy 
and find grace to help us
in our time of need.

I guess it is hard to have a relationship with the Lord if you can’t approach his throne of grace with confidence. I meet a lot of believers, who love the Lord, go to church and read their bible but lack confidence in their relationship with the Lord. For some they feel guilty for their less than perfect lives. Others struggle with spiritual self-esteem and feel like they are unimportant or unworthy to go to Gods throne room. Yet we are told in this verse to approach the throne of grace with confidence.
For some of you this is easy because you have fully accepted what Jesus has done on your behalf and realize it has nothing to do with personal merit. It has everything to do with Jesus.

God is both loving and just and he won’t fudge on either one. In His great love He made a way to satisfy both. In his love He sent Jesus to satisfy justice. Jesus steps in and takes on the
punishment we deserve. Ephesians 2:4-10 pretty much sums it up. 

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It is really important that you get this, otherwise you will spend your days trying to measure up as a Christian. You will think, "I don’t pray enough, I’m not kind enough, I don’t read my bible enough. I’m a failure as a Christian, I don’t know why God even puts up with me".   It is not about how good or bad you are. Your very best is filthy rags, compared to the holiness of God.  Grab ahold of this truth! Jesus has done it all and because of what He has done, you can, and you should, approach the throne of grace with confidence. Go there and talk to your heavenly Father. Tell him about your day where you struggle and where you shined for His glory. He loves to be with you and in His presence you will find grace to help in your time of need.  I love 2 Peter 1:3 in the Contemporary English Version.

We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness.

It has all been done for us. The enemy wants to keep you busy beating yourself up, because he knows as long as you feel like a pitiful lowly worm you will avoid God. Accept what has been done for you and begin to get to know God, not as the hard task master who is going to zap you for messing up. You might as well get over the image of the weak old man because God is all powerful and while we may deserve to be zapped for our sin He has made a way for us to return to Him. It is because of Jesus that we can boldly go before God and have our relationship with Him restored.  I will end with this passage from A Snoodle’s Tale - it is my favorite Veggi Tale and should be required viewing for Christians.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Snoodle's Tale is the 22nd episode in the VeggieTales animated series, released on November 2003 and May 2004 on both DVD and VHS formats. Subtitled "A Lesson in Self Worth", the episode focuses on teaching viewers that they are special in God's eyes, that they don't need to have extraordinary talents or resort to gimmicks to be worthy individuals.
SNOODLE 
“Are you saying that’s - me? I’d like to believe it, but, sir, I’m afraid to.”
STRANGER
“I know who you are,” ...He replied “for I made you.”
“I built the tower and set it in motion.
I planted the meadow - put fish in the ocean.
And I feed the finches, though most Snoodles doubt it,
Not one of them falls that I don’t know about it.”
“I’ve seen you fall down in the mud and the goo.
I’ve seen all you’ve done, and all you will do.
I gave you your pack, and your paints and your wings.
I chose them for you. They’re your special things.”
“The Snoodle-kazoo is so you can sing
About colors in Autumn or flowers in Spring.
I gave you your brushes in hopes that you’d see
How using them, you could make pictures for me.”
“Most of the Snoodles,” The old one said sadly,
“Just use their paints to make others feel badly.”

The young Snoodle pondered the things he’d been told.
Then wondering something, grew suddenly bold -
“But sir, if you made this incredible land,
Can’t you make Snoodles obey your command?”

The big one smiled warmly, then said to the small,
“A gift that’s demanded is no gift at all.”

With that the small Snoodle reached into his pack,
And pulled out the picture he’d made 10 miles back.
“They’re Far-lillies, sir, from over the bridge.”

The old one beamed bright and said,
“That’s for my fridge!”
I guess as an artist the idea of my art being on God's fridge makes me smile.
If you have not seen Veggi Tales in a while you might not remember how every episode ends-
but it is worth repeating.
"God made you special and He loves you very much"

When My Faith Seems Small

Click Here To Buy This Card

When My Faith Seems Small

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio
 

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for 

and certain of what we do not see. 

 

I have faith in chairs, that when I sit in them they will hold me up. I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow. I have faith that Mt.Rainier is still there on cloudy days when I can't see it looming over the Western Washington landscape.

Do I have faith to believe that God's promises in His word are true? Beyond that do I have faith to believe the things He has spoken to me in my quiet time with Him? Do I really trust him like Abraham even when every circumstance seems to shout the very opposite of what God has said?   I do - I'm not saying I don't have days when doubts creep in and my faith seems very small - I do. We all have those days.  I want to share some of the things that I do on days when my faith seems small. 

 

I Spend Time With Jesus: The first place you will find me is at the feet of Jesus. I lay it all out before the Lord. He already knows the condition of my heart and I ask like the father in Mark 9:24b
 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

 

I Remember: I remember the mercies and the goodness of the Lord. I make a point to tell others on those days about some time that the Lord has helped me in the past. In Revelation 12:11 "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." The word of your testimony is a powerful weapon by which we overcome the enemy. 

 

I Use My Weapons: I  remember 2 Corinthians 10:4 -5 "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." We have already been given powerful weapons for demolishing the strongholds in our lives and in the lives of others. If I know the Word then I will know when an argument is setting itself up against the knowledge of God. The more of the Word I have in me the less likely I am to sin against God. Psalm 119:11 is a good case for Bible memory. It say's "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you". Now I have some friends who really work at Bible memory, they practice in their spare time and they have many passages memorized word for word. I am not very good at memorizing. I may not be able to quote word for word, or give you chapter and verse but the Word is in me. For example just in writing this devotional post I am able to remember key words and concepts so that when I can quickly find the verses that I want to use. I have may not have spent time consciously memorizing, but I have spent lots and lots of time reading the Word. I have spent lots of time singing the Word. God wired me in such a way that allows me to remember things that have been set to music. We all have little tricks that help us remember the things we want to remember. My point is that knowing the Word is a powerful weapon against the enemy. 

 

I Stand on the Word: As I am praying and seeking the Lord often I will come across a verse that jumps out and speaks deeply to me in some way. That becomes a Word that I begin to stand on. It is like it jumped out just for me. We are promised that the Holy Spirit will teach us in John 14:26  "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." Those words I often put on 3x5 cards and carry in my pocket or I post it places where I will see them and be reminded. 

 

I Ponder: There are things that I don't know how or when God will work out - I just know that He will. I remember that He is able.  They are for me like money in the bank. I know it will be there when I need it in the future. I am making faith deposits for the future in the little steps of faith I take today.   I don't generally tell anyone those private things that God has spoken to me. Like Mary I take those things and treasure them or ponder them. Luke 2:19 says "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." I often journal those things so that when they do happen - I have created yet another testimony that will help me with things in the future. 

 

I hope that these little tips are helpful. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but these are some of the ways that I build myself up. 

Oh one last thing...

 

I pray in the Spirit - I don't always know how to pray but I trust that the Holy Spirit knows the mind of the Father and is able to pray through me. I love how the message explains this in Romans 8:26-28 "Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." I have to quote something my friend Mark Kenney posted today "Someone asked if I believed in tongues. I said I'm pretty sure that most everyone I know has one..so I'll say yes." I try not to make that subject a divisive issue. For me praying in the Spirit for me has been a huge blessing. It has added a deeper dimension my prayer life, particularly when I don't know how to pray. Its a gift - not a badge of spirituality.

 

I have found that I have faith for a given trial when I have been spending time at the feet of Jesus. It is a bad idea to wait for a trial and then to beginning cramming trying to work up faith. One must consistently be using faith and practicing faith in small things. Then when bigger things come our way we are able to look to the many small things that helped us to practice and grow in faith. David had practiced on lions and bears before he stood before the giant Goliath. Use what is going on now to build some spiritual muscle.

 

Prayer:  Dear Lord, Help me build some spiritual muscle in this trial I am facing. Help me to remember and to try some of the ideas in this devotional. Help me grow in faith so that I honor you in the situations that I face as I walk through day to day life. I invite you to be present with me as I go through this day.